Outstanding Alumni Winner - 2010

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Alumni award recipient Quentin Skinner had intended to enter UW and become a
dentist. Instead, he was instrumental in watershed education, grass taxonomy

If
this Outstanding Alumni Award winner had continued his planned career path,
the American Dental Association might be honoring him instead of the College
of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Professor Emeritus Quentin Skinner had every intention of being a dentist.

"He gave us common sense science that cuts through all the political
nonsense and truly shows how to manage water, soil, plants, wildlife and the
future success of mankind," wrote Jack Turnell of Turnell Cattle Company
near Meeteetse. "He was very important in saving our forest permit and
teaching us how to better manage our ranch."

Or
this:

"As an instructor, he has mentored thousands of young people in the natural
resource field," wrote long-time friend and former student Bob Budd of
Lander. "His teaching style is unique, direct, and captivating. Quentin was
engaging dialogue and writing skills in natural resources long before that
became a standard teaching practice. Most of all, he made every student feel
important, and he made every student think."

Moved to Georgia

Skinner and his wife, Arlene, live in Georgia now, having moved to a warmer
climate and lower elevation to help combat Arlene's cancer. "I hope we have
it whipped," Quentin says from his Georgia home. "It's a lot easier for her
being near our son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren here."

He
adds, "It's really pleasant. For a guy who froze to death coaching skiing,
"

A Pinedale native, athletes ran in the Skinner family. Quentin and
his brothers, Bud, Ole, Courtney, Bob, and Monte, were inducted into the
Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. He attended UW on an athletic
scholarship and earned his bachelor's degree in biological sciences in 1963.
He was completing a stint in the service and stationed in Alaska when he

"Military is good for everyone, and
it was especially good for me," he now says. "I grew up a lot. I lived in
the bachelor officer quarters and going back to school was what a lot of
officers had in mind. I went back to be a dentist but was on the waiting
list. My wife and I thought I was too old to pursue that, and I went into my
chosen field."

Master's in Recreation, Doctorate in Plants

He
received his master's in recreation in 1970 taking part in boys and girls
camps and hunting and fishing in Wyoming, and there was also the skiing. His
advisers were from the colleges of engineering and agriculture, and he
examined chemistry and water quality to study the effects of recreation on
mountain lake systems.

He decided to study plants for his Ph.D. "I chose grasses as a group
to really learn. I looked around the U.S. and found two people I wanted to
study under," he notes. "One was at Texas A&M, and the other was Alan
Ackerman Beetle right there at UW." Professor Beetle had earned his master"s
from UW in 1938, returned to UW in 1946, and taught for the next 32 years.

Skinner coached men's and women's skiing while earning his advanced degrees
and, when range management was split out of plant sciences, moved over from
the Water Resources Research Institute.

Thirty-one years and almost $24 million in research awards later, he
says he wouldn't change a thing.

"If I were to have things end tomorrow, I think I've had a wonderful life,"
he observes. "There can't be anything with more freedom and imagination than
being a professor for 35 years, and I've got to meet many people."

Lengthy List of Accomplishments

His record of research, teaching, and extension would stretch several pages.
His contributions to Wyoming and national agriculture tally several
publications, including Grasses of
Wyoming, Wyoming Watersheds and
Riparian Zones, Field Guide to theGrasses of Nevada,The Field
Guide to Wyoming Grasses (in press),
The Field Guide to Alaska Grasses
(near to being in press), and he's working on a field guide to the grasses
of the southeastern U.S.

"The list of scientific papers describing Dr. Skinner's research has
been published in many outlets," writes UW Professor Emeritus Bill Laycock.
"They include a number of invited chapters in books, 35 authored or
co-authored journal articles, and 65 articles in symposium proceedings, most
of which were invited presentations. The list of presentations at scientific
and other types of meetings is nine pages long attesting to Dr. Skinner's
dedication to science and to presenting results of research to a wide range
of audiences."

Research isn't his main love. That was teaching. "Research to me was
a process. It paid the way to teach and do extension," Skinner says. "It was
fascinating to me, but it gave me a good basis to teach."

He credits four professors for his desire to teach well: Carl Wiesen
in agriculture, Robert Champlin in engineering, Rebecca Collins in organic
chemistry, and
George Baxter
in zoology.

"All believed the student was the important commodity of a university
system," he says. "I kind of wished and hoped I could be the kind of
teachers they were. With extension and research, I really felt I had the
knowledge I needed to compete with anybody in what I did. The teaching came
from those four individuals."

Bret Moline of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, and former
extension educator, remembers working with Skinner. "I have found no equal
to his knowledge and ability to get that knowledge in to a usable format,"
he says. "He worked extremely hard to make sure the people he was working
with understood and could use the information he was teaching.">

Developed Watershed Training
Programs

Skinner was a principal instructor of the Watershed 101 Module, a four-day
course that informed citizens of the functions and dynamics of watersheds.

"He had a unique ability to take a
complicated topic and boil it down to where it came together in a four-day
course," writes Bobbie Frank, executive director of the Wyoming Association
of Conservation Districts. "He generated more enthusiasm and excitement for
watershed management in Wyoming at the local level than any other single
individual."

When Skinner provided recommendations on the correct way to release
the produced waters of the coalbed methane development in the Powder River
Basin, "He had the respect of both the gas industry and landowners," writes
Dennis Sun, rancher and publisher of the
Wyoming Livestock Roundup.

"He never showed favoritism as he just told
everyone the facts based on science. His work with the conservation
districts with water quality monitoring training saved this state from
overbearing regulations. We will always remember his hard work on that
issue."